1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to blind cleaning devices; and, more particularly, to a device insertible between slats of venetian blinds and movable there along to clean the same.
2. Description of the Prior Art
One of the most distasteful household cleaning jobs is the efficient cleaning of venetian blinds or mini-blinds. Unfortunately, such blinds are as popular today as they have been in the past and various devices have been suggested over the years for cleaning the same. In U.S. Pat. No. 2,172,479 to McMillen, a venetian blind duster is shown using fur or hair bristles 14. The bristles merely move dust from one location on the slat to another and bind in the ropes interconnecting the slats.
In U.S. Pat. No. 2,276,264 to Goldfinger, a duster is shown having flexible fingers but the fingers merely flex, cannot be inserted between slats of a blind and do not clamp a blind slat therebetween. In U.S. Pat. No. 2,571,906 to Love, a blind cleaner is disclosed having spring-biased fingers 12 covered with cleaning pads 19. Only two fingers 12 are disclosed, the pads 19 are very close together, the material of pads 19 is not disclosed and the device is relatively expensive to manufacture. Also, contiguous slats cannot be cleaned simultaneously.
In U.S. Pat. No. 2,957,190 to Stark, a louver cleaner is disclosed having sponges 19 for cleaning louvers. Obviously, successive slats cannot be cleaned simultaneously. A similar device which cannot simultaneously clean slats is disclosed in British Pat. No. 1,071,271 to Warner where sponge pads 13, 14 are on only one side of spaced arms 11, 12.
It can thus be seen that none of the prior art patents except McMillen and Goldfinger can simultaneously clean more than two slats at a time. McMillan's bristles are very inefficient and can bind on the ropes interconnecting the blinds. Goldfinger's fingers cannot clasp a plurality of contiguous slats therebetween for simultaneous cleaning thereof. None of the known prior art devices have achieved commercial success due to their ineffectiveness in cleaning blinds.
There thus is a need for an economical and easy to manufacture cleaning device for efficiently cleaning all surfaces of blinds in a single pass and removing dirt and dust therefrom. In my pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 443,334, filed Nov. 22, 1982, I disclosed a device wherein the fingers flex to clamp the slats of the blind therebetween. If the fingers are fixed at the proper angle, it is not necessary that they flex.